Let's face it -- 99.44 percent of us do not read the Terms of Service we "agree to" on software, websites, whatever. I mean, who has time to sift through pages of legalese just to play a game of Angry Birds, register for your fantasy football draft or read a news article?

Via Consumerist, however, I see that one website is trying to address this widespread "too long, didn't read" problem by basically creating a CliffsNotes version for each ToS out there. On its homepage, this website called, appropriately, "Terms of Service; Didn't Read" states that

The statement "I have read and agree with the Terms of Service" is the biggest lie on the web. We aim to fix that. As a crowd initiative, ToS;DR rates the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of websites and services from a user rights perspective, with labels ranging from a very good class A to a very bad class E.

The Twitter photo service Twitpic, for example, is given a grade of "Class E," meaning that its "terms of service raise very serious concerns." SoundCloud, on the other hand, receives a grade of "Class B" (defined as "The terms of services are fair towards the user but they could be improved.") Grades for Twitter, Facebook, Google and other major services are still in the works.

ToS;DR asks anyone who encounters anything that's particularly good or bad about a website from a consumer rights point of view to start a thread on this open Google Group, where others can add their own thoughts, as well. Of course, since most of the people who will visit ToS;DR are presumably too lazy to read a ToS in the first place, this Google Group may turn out to be a very lonely destination.

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Too Lazy to Read the Terms of Service? Try 'ToS;DR'

Let's face it -- 99.44 percent of us do not read the Terms of Service we "agree to" on software, websites, whatever. I mean, who has time to sift through pages of legalese just to play a game of Angry Birds, register for your fantasy football draft or read a news article?

Via Consumerist, however, I see that one website is trying to address this widespread "too long, didn't read" problem by basically creating a CliffsNotes version for each ToS out there. On its homepage, this website called, appropriately, "Terms of Service; Didn't Read" states that

The statement "I have read and agree with the Terms of Service" is the biggest lie on the web. We aim to fix that. As a crowd initiative, ToS;DR rates the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of websites and services from a user rights perspective, with labels ranging from a very good class A to a very bad class E.

The Twitter photo service Twitpic, for example, is given a grade of "Class E," meaning that its "terms of service raise very serious concerns." SoundCloud, on the other hand, receives a grade of "Class B" (defined as "The terms of services are fair towards the user but they could be improved.") Grades for Twitter, Facebook, Google and other major services are still in the works.

ToS;DR asks anyone who encounters anything that's particularly good or bad about a website from a consumer rights point of view to start a thread on this open Google Group, where others can add their own thoughts, as well. Of course, since most of the people who will visit ToS;DR are presumably too lazy to read a ToS in the first place, this Google Group may turn out to be a very lonely destination.